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| Idit Shemer,Shira Shaked,Orit Messer-Jacobi(courtesy Trio Noga) |
Trio Noga is back
with a new program. As most befitting to salon music, the recital on November
24th 2021, the first of an Israeli concert tour, took place at a
private home in Jerusalem. Members of the trio are Idit Shemer-flute, Orit
Messer-Jacobi-'cello and Maggie Cole (US/UK)-piano. With Maggie Cole
unavailable for the current series, Shemer and Messer-Jacobi were joined by
Israeli pianist Shira Shaked.
Trio Noga's program opened with
W.A.Mozart's first mature work of the piano trio genre, the Divertimento in
B-flat major K.254 (1776), a work representing
the unquestioned supplanting of the harpsichord by the pianoforte (actually, the fortepiano), this
resulting from important technical advances in piano-building in Vienna.
Here, the violin part was substituted by flute (Shemer), and most effectively too.
From their buoyant reading of the opening Allegro assai, to the delicate, singing
Adagio movement with its somewhat unsettled middle section, to the charming
Rondo:tempo di menuetto, the artists gave engaging expression to Mozart's
small, lightweight gestures, the work's passing minor dramas and to its many
dialogues between piano and flute.
Written
originally for piano four hands, Claude Debussy's "Petite
Suite", L.65, has undergone many
transcriptions. Here, hearing 'cellist/composer Doron Toister's setting, we
were immediately drawn into the water-borne serenity and languor of "En
bateau" (Sailing), as inspired by a poem of Paul Verlaine, its text
describing a sensual ride in a boat on a dark lake at dusk. The
instrumentalists recreated the spry canvas of "Cortège" (Retinue), a
saucy piece endorsed with a touch of Commedia dell'Arte frivolity and alluring
harmonic turns. The final two movements, "Menuet", with its pastoral
sensibility and "Ballet", brimming with Parisian joie-de-vivre,
delighted the audience with the trio's lightness of touch and rhythmic
badinage, with Shemer's poignant, nostalgic and sparkling playing giving voice
to the music's mostly pastel, French flavour.
Then, to music
of French flautist/conductor Philippe Gaubert (1879–1941), often referred
to as a "weekend" composer, whose 80-or-so works include several
for flute that have become an important part of the instrument's repertoire.
Despite his prominence as a conductor and soloist, it is his flute-oriented
compositions for which Gaubert is best remembered. Shaked and Shemer played "Deux
Esquisses" (Two Sketches for Flute and Piano). In the first, "Soir
sur la plaine" (Night on the plain), opening with a fleeting association
of Debussy's "Syrinx", a piece rich in fine writing for both
instruments, in lyricism, chromaticism and complex rhythms, piano and
flute take on independent roles, creating a captivating weave, albeit transparent.
"Orientale", another fine concert piece, its piano part at times
evoking bells, offers a suggestion of the mysterious and exotic East. Almost
orchestral at times, indeed, characterized by sweeping 'cello melodies and long
phrases, Trio Noga's playing of Gaubert's "Pièce romantique" emerged
collaborative, spontaneous and sensitive.
The house concert concluded with young Israeli composer Matan Serry's arrangement
of Alexander "Sasha" Argov's "The Purple Dress" (lyrics:
Chaim Hefer), a setting written especially for the Noga Trio. One of the
preeminent composers of modern Hebrew song, Argov composed songs that
remain an important body of works in the canon of Israeli music, his unique and
complex musical language integrating popular- with classical elements. Serry's
arrangement is lush, imaginative and suave, offering each of the players the
opportunity to shine. Leaving a taste for more, I would suggest Serry arrange
two or three more of Argov's songs to produce a congenial group of
pieces.
A delightful evening of house music. Kudos to Shira Shaked for
contending with the challenges of performing on an electric piano. Trio Noga was established in 2015, with the aim of
offering its listeners a new, fresh approach to a well-known and much-loved
repertoire, as well as introducing new and rare works to its audiences.
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